


I will crawl home to you

by BookSongs, Siwucha



Series: No grave can hold my body down [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Based On Buzzfeed Unsolved, M/M, Slowish burn?, Supernatural Elements, YouTuber!Alfred, demon!Ivan, more tags to be added later, pinning, the rating might change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2020-10-27 01:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookSongs/pseuds/BookSongs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siwucha/pseuds/Siwucha
Summary: Being a demon in a human world was pretty neat if you were smart enough to actually hide your presence there. That was Ivan’s plan the whole time.Becoming friends with a human equivalent of a supernatural lighthouse was not a part of it.Becoming a co-host of a popular ghost hunting show on YouTube was certainly not a part of it either.But now he just has to try to make the best out of this mess that is his life but mostly his companion.





	1. Chapter 1

It all started a few months ago with one simple question. He was sitting in the college’s coffee shop trying to write a decent paper for his professor. He had placed his laptop on a small table tucked neatly into a corner of the place from where he could easily see people getting in and leaving the place. He was watching the entrance intently just then, trying to gather his thoughts and put them in order until the doors to the shop swung open once again and a familiar mop of blond hair entered the place.  
Alfred looked around trying to spot him, knowing very well Ivan would be here at this time of the day, and when he did Ivan knew he was in for some kind of trouble.  
It went something like this:  
"Do you want to help me with a Halloween episode for my channel?"  
You see, Ivan had never been a big fan of appearing in Alfred's videos. As much as he loved watching them, especially the ones where the man was blowing shit up and then explaining the reason behind it blowing up with this maniacal glee in his eyes, Ivan didn’t see himself in those videos. Alfred’s asked him a few times to be a part of his videos already, but Ivan usually refused him. He never wanted to be at the center of attention and there was a straight line leading towards exactly that if he should agree.  
“Why would I want to?” he asked. By now, Alfred knew better than to ask, so why was he doing it again? There was a catch and Ivan wanted to know what it was. Alfred slumped down on the seat beside him and took his drink away. Ivan made a sound of protest, but sometimes there is no way of stopping Alfred when he gets his hands on food and drinks. All those years they have spent hanging out together taught him that. It is impossible to stop Alfred from eating, especially if he was stressed. And he looked stressed. And terribly so.  
" So, I wanted to make something special and out of my field for this year’s Halloween, and I thought 'Hey Al, how about a ghost hunting video?'. I know you think it's all bullshit," he hurried up with the explanation when he saw Ivan making a face at the word 'ghost'. "But it would be a cool thing.”  
Alfred was probably right. His channel was popular because of all the wild experiments he liked to do and - believe it or not - he’s helped a lot of students understand how some of the things their teachers taught them actually worked.  
“Okay, but what is your big idea for this Halloween special? Cause you are really not saying what you would need me for.” he pointed out and Alfred laughed nervously. “You know I don’t believe in all this supernatural bullshit you and Francis talk about.”  
He never liked lying to Alfred but how could he tell him that he is a demon? He couldn’t just approach him during a casual conversation and say “Oh, by the way, I'm a demon! Surprise?!” Humans are complicated creatures, and as much as he loved living amongst them and learning about their point of view on what was happening around them, he was also never able to completely understand them. They were such fragile beings. And Alfred?  
Alfred hated demons.  
He learned that people in this century did not really believe in the supernatural. A lot of them thought things like magic and creatures born from it were just a myth people created thousands of years ago to explain simple things happening around them. But there were also some humans who still believed in these things. His friend was one of them. Even if he was a man of science, he also was pretty sure his apartment was haunted - which was not true, Ivan has checked it and double checked it more than once in the past. Ivan has never been able to understand how science and ghosts manage to work together in the world of Alfred F. Jones, but it was simple to him. Ghosts and vampires and bigfoot were just as real as quantum physics and evolution in Alfred’s head.  
Alfred fascinated him since the day they met. They did not hit it off at first. He was pretty sure if it were not for Alfred's younger brother, Matt, there would have been some serious damage - and after knowing his friend for as long as he does, he was not so sure it would be only on Alfred's side.  
"Okay, so there is this forest I have read about. You see, in 2001 a group of students decided to have a small party in it to celebrate the start of a new academic year only to be never found again. Their families called the police when their kids didn't come back and there was this big nationwide action to find them, but they just disappeared." he started explaining.  
"Al, I still don't see a place for me in this whole thing."  
"If you let me talk-"  
"Please, no."  
"Fuck you, if you let me explain the whole thing to you without interrupting, you would know. And stop being a dick about it."  
Ivan waved his hand and smiled because he could feel frustration building up in Jones. It was honestly hilarious to see Alfred getting so worked up because of their banter, yet Alfred wasn’t able to really do anything about the smile slowly crawling onto his face. He looked at his phone in an unsuccessful attempt of hiding it.  
“Anyway, everything about it is weird, but the weirdest part is that half a year later, a friend of one of the missing kids was going through that forest and few meters in front of him was laying a camera, looking brand new and undamaged. He took it and wanted to check out the photos - their town was small enough to know like everyone - and inside of it were pictures of his friend and the rest of the kids who disappeared that night, but their faces were all kinda crooked.”  
“Are you sure it’s not just some asshole making all this shit up and then going like ‘hey, it’s all true, I saw it! I’m the one who found the camera!’ or something close to it?” he suggested not being able to pass up this perfect teasing opportunity. “‘Cause I will be honest with you here, it sounds like such a baloney. New Blair Witch or something like that.”  
Alfred looked offended.  
“Okay, first of all, how dare you insult my research skills so badly?”  
“And second?”  
“Let me think of something.”  
Ivan barked a short laugh and shook his head.  
“Stop being ridiculous, why do you think it’s a legit thing? And even if it is, which I don’t believe, do you really want to get yourself in the middle of a forest where a bunch of people 'disappeared’?”  
“Well, when you say it like that…” Alfred trailed off and they were quiet for a few seconds until he realized why his friend brought this whole video to him.  
“Oh my God, you want me to go with you!”  
Alfred started playing with a straw from the drink he stole from Ivan and tried not to look at him.  
“Admit it!” Ivan poked his arm trying to annoy the man into talking. When he didn’t react, he just kept doing it.  
After few more pokes Alfred snapped.  
“Yeah, okay! I wanted you to go with me!” he said and laid down his head upon his crossed arms on the table.. He had this grumpy look on his face, with the whole package of scrunched eyebrows and pouting lips. Oh god, he was pouting, Ivan noticed.  
“I just thought I wouldn’t be as scared going there with you as I would be alone. I did some real research about this place and it was so fuckin’ creepy how fast they quieted the whole thing in the media and such. Like, usually it takes a couple of months of never ending ‘did you see this person?’ on every news channel and like, I don’t know, cartons of milk? But here it was a few weeks and suddenly nothing, no one talks about it, like there wasn’t a big fuckin’ hole in the community in the shape of nine kids-”  
“Hey, okay, calm down.” Ivan stopped him and Alfred slumped even lower in his seat. Dark, anxious feelings slipped out of him and Ivan shuddered from the intensity of it. Everything about Jones was intense and it was easy for both of them to get lost in it.  
“As much as it is creepy you shouldn't get yourself so worked up about the whole case.” He put his hand at the bottom of his spine and started making small circles with his thumb. Alfred relaxed a little bit but the anxious feeling did not go away entirely. “When did this happen? Eighteen years ago? I think we should be okay by now then.”  
The younger man looked at him, a small smile playing on his lips.  
“ ‘We’ ?”  
Ivan frowned at him but it only made Alfred’s smile wider.  
“Don’t get your hopes up high cowboy, it seriously isn’t an appealing enough story to get me to go with you and act as your nanny. You will have to think of someone else. Why didn’t you just ask Francis or Matt? They would gladly go with you since they love these kind of stories just as much as you do anyways.”  
Jones deflated at this a tiny bit but his smile did not disappear and Ivan tried hard not to let it affect him but he could only fool himself. He turned his eyes away and started watching people around them. Some of them had their laptops out, typing furiously with frowns on their faces and then deleting everything with small noises of frustration escaping their mouths, ah yes it was that time again deadlines for written papers and such approaching quickly. Ivan could definitely relate to them. He recognized some faces from courses he himself took as well.  
“Come on.” Alfred’s voice grabbed his attention once again. He didn’t look at him but made a small noise of acknowledgement. “I will take you out to this new fancy new restaurant you told me about a few weeks ago if you agree. It will be my treat.”  
Well, he knows me a bit too well, he thought while pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing heavily.  
“Can you even afford that place with your paychecks? I know you need all the money you can put your hands on right now.”  
Alfred waved at him and shook his head.  
“If this episode strikes high on the charts, I think I can treat you to some fancy food buddy. And even if it doesn't I will owe it to you.”  
Ivan closed his eyes and sighed again. Then turned his eyes to his friend who was keenly looking at him, his face hopeful and Ivan hated every fiber of himself when he felt his defenses drop dramatically fast. Just like domino pieces, once the first one had fallen they all came down.  
Hell, I'm getting soft because of him.  
“Okay” he said and grimaced when he heard a happy whoop coming out of Alfred as he pounded his fist in the air almost spilling his drink around. “But only this one episode.”  
It wasn’t only one episode. 

***

Ivan had no idea what he really should've expected from the whole idea of ghost hunting with Alfred but it was definitely… not this.  
He knew Alfred was a magnet for supernatural beings, it was the main reason Ivan was around him in the first place. His soul was so bright it had called to him from the other side of the campus when he first put his foot onto it. But what has happened during their… visit to the forest… That was a whole different story. He was used to small ghosts and spirits always running around Alfred but never getting close to him because of Ivan. They knew better since Alfred practically…well reeked with Ivan’s smell. Not that he did it on purpose, but because they hung around one another so much and sometimes even had to borrow each others clothes after sleepovers, their smells just kind of mixed - at least to magical beings. He doesn't mind those spirits, they are just kind of curious.  
The forest on the other hand… Ivan could feel something awful has happened in it. He could smell it in the air, the sweet, rotten smell of decomposition and iron. He could almost taste it and it reminded him a bit of graveyards.  
But it was lacking the ineffable calm of graveyards. The forest was full of terror and lost souls and he couldn't stop himself from standing in front of Alfred and the rest of the people the younger blonde had managed to drag along with him. He had no idea how he made Matt go with him but where Matt was, Gilbert was with him as well. This way Alfred had found himself with something between a film crew and a moral support group. At first Ivan was happy he wasn’t stuck alone with Al, who sometimes would turn into a big scaredy-cat and Matt would be kind of a buffer for his brother as well, but just then when he was standing in front of the entrance to the forest he thinks going in with three humans is a bad idea.  
“Is it only me or do you guys also feels like something is watching us?” Alfred said, sounding like he was about to jump out of his skin at the faint sound of the wind brushing and rustling the leaves alone. And Ivan could understand it. If he focused enough on the shadows caused by the setting sun he could see a small movement. It was really on the edge of his human vision, blending in with the darkness around it, but he knew it was there and it was watching them.  
“That’s probably some squirrel or maybe a deer.” he joked turning towards Alfred. “Are you afraid of small, fluffy animals now?!”  
The man looked at him wanting to say something but then something - or maybe someone? - stepped on a branch, that broke with a loud crack making Alfred jump and frantically look around. He almost dropped one of his new cameras. Ivan barked a laugh alongside with Matt and approached him to take away the small device.  
“Come on Al, you are the one who wanted us to come all the way out here. Are you chickening out now?”  
“No it’s just… way creepier than I expected it to be” he admitted quietly. Ivan patted his back reassuringly and stirred him towards the rest of the group.  
“Come on, we have to take our stuff, unless you want to spend the whole night in this forest?” Alfred flinched, making Ivan snort. 

***

Half an hour later they had night vision cameras strapped to their chests, small backpacks for each of them and flashlights in their hands. Gilbert also held a normal camera and Matt was just finishing attaching their mics to their clothes. All of those things tugged on and pinned to his clothes made Ivan uncomfortable and kind of look like some guy from a spy movie.  
“It's just all those straps, Al. Make me feel like I’m about to try and steal ‘The Declaration of Independence’.” he explained to his friend. Alfred snorted.  
“You might think about the wrong movie, man. I think you meant “Mission Impossible”?”  
“Mm, yeah, probably.”  
They stood in front of the roadblock leading into the forest. The sun had disappeared completely and their flashlights created ominous figures all around them. He could feel a wet cold clinging to his legs like some sort of invisible hands and he hated this sensation a lot. For a moment he regretted putting his jacket into his backpack, now when he was all buckled up it would be annoying to take it all down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for you kind comments under last chapter! I hope you like this chapter as much! Sorry it took me a moment to post it since I work a lot.  
(kinda bet read by amazing and sweet BookSongs but they are busy with work now so tell me if you see any mistakes)   
Enjoy!

Walking into the forest Ivan wondered to himself if Alfred would have come here alone. The forest looked old, ancient even, it’s trees were blocking the moonlight with their thick branches and they had to look carefully where they were putting their feet to not step into small puddles of water, reminders of the rainy last week. The floor was soft from the amount of moss and leaves and Alfred would even go so far as to call it ‘plushy’ if it weren’t so creepy. The mist made everything wet and slippery and Ivan could hear Alfred cursing from time to time alongside with him stumbling around barely avoiding falling onto the ground. Matt and Gilbert had much more luck and they managed to keep the mic and camera steady the whole time. 

Alfred was leading their little troop of misfits with a map in one hand and a compass in the other. They were a bit too far from civilisation to get any good reception in here and he did not want to waste the battery of his phone. And anyways doing this with a map would look so much better in the videos later. At least so he told Ivan.

Sometimes he had to stop for a moment to make sure he was leading them in the right direction. He would frown at the piece of paper in his hand and then at the compass but Ivan wasn’t that worried about it. He trusted Alfred with his kind of orientational skills anywhere whether in the field or in places like this. Matt and Alfred were raised on a farm close to the mountains overgrown by a forest pretty close to this one. Being practically trained at coordinating through places like this from a young age, it was impossible for them to get lost out in the wild. Cities on the other hand were something different. Alfred wouldn’t put a leg out of his small apartment without making sure twice that his phone was fully charged because even though he was already living in LA for four years he still got lost a lot. 

Ivan found it hilarious. 

"I have a theory." Matt said from behind the camera. Earlier Alfred told Gilbert and his brother to feel free and talk to them if they had anything to say. Alfred would have to go through the entire video material later anyways and if Matt didn’t want to be on it, he would just cut it out later. Ivan knew his companion also allowed this because Alfred felt safer if he could not only see that he wasn’t alone with Ivan in here, but also hear it. 

"I have a theory" Matt repeated after taking a breath of the cold, wet air and almost tumbling down a small hole he didn't see. He cursed quietly under his breath and righted the mic. "I mean, I have a theory as to how did all of those kids disappear."

"Well then?" Ivan inquired while looking around like he was treating this whole night hike like a pleasant walk through the park near his flat. If it wasn't for three humans walking with him it probably would be. Instead he had to keep an eye on all of the ghost following them around. Ivan was used to supernatural beings trailing after Alfred and, in some cases, Matt but the amount of them right now was a bit alarming. Some of them got uncomfortably close to them and it put Ivan on the edge. Most of them couldn't really do anything and, even if he was a minor demon, Ivan could still send them away to hell and at least most of them seemed rather afraid of him. 

But it was still unnerving.

“So I think all of them got drunk and then stumbled blindly around this damn forest until they fell face first into this moss to be never seen again. It's so… spongy I wouldn’t be surprised if all of those students just were eaten up by it.” Matt finished with a snarky voice. Ivan barked out a short laughter of surprise at this alongside Gilbert and even if Alfred chuckled a little although he did shoot the forest bed a slightly suspicious look. 

“ ‘The case of human - eating moss’. I'm pretty sure this video would become the most viewed on your channel in mere hours” added Gilbert. “We might join them soon though.”

“Don’t be ridiculous guys” Alfred shook his head at them, slightly irritated but obviously relieved that some of the tension was gone now. Ivan watched as with another step forward one of the ghosts got close enough to Alfred to touch him. It held the shape of a young man, probably close to the age of the three humans, looked like he was cut out straight from an old black and white photo, all grainy and dimmed. The ghost looked curiously at Alfred and reached out for him, only to tug at the sleeve of his jacket. Alfred gave a sharp yelp of surprise and jumped away from the ghost, his head spinning around scanning his environment in a slight outburst of sudden panic.

Well, as long as the ghost wouldn’t dare hurt Alfred or latch onto the deliciously emotional man Ivan didn’t mind much.

“What the fuck?” he cried, his voice slightly higher than usual. “Did one of you just grab my arm?”

“We all were and are walking behind you, how could we even do it, man?” Gilbert stopped beside his friend to record his small outburst as a close-up. “What happened? Did you feel a little ghastly ghost touch you?” he joked. 

“Don't be an asshole, I'm sure I felt something touch my arm!”

While the two of them bickered Ivan crossed his arms and looked disapprovingly at the ghost. It was shaking with laughter, but the only thing he could hear was a soft static noise and a buzz, akin to an old tv. He took a step closer in the direction of the ghost and send a small wave of his power towards the ghost as a warning. It jumped and looked at him like it was the first time it even noticed him and then backed away from Alfred and Gilbert. Ivan relaxed a bit and smiled towards his friends. 

“It sounds to me like the ghost was feeling you up, buddy” he said cheerfully. “Maybe finally you will find your boo.”  
Alfred groaned. Gilbert and Matt broke into yet another round of laughter.

***

It took them almost an hour to finally reach the clearing where the party had supposedly happened in 2001. The space almost had the shape of a circle with a few short bushes growing around. In the middle of the clearing the ground lay a little bit lower than at the edges, giving the place the overall shape of a shallow bowl. The air here was lighter and less damp than in between the trees and Ivan breathed it in with pleasure. 

"So what exactly do you have in mind ?" He asked turning towards Alfred. The man lowered his backpack to the ground and started unpacking it. "Please tell me you didn't bring any of these Ouija board things with you." he added.   
Alfred looked at him like at him like he was crazy. 

"I'm not stupid enough to use that dude, I like my life the way it is, free of ghosts and demons haunting my ass."

He had to stop himself from laughing out loud. Too late, he thought to himself with a mischievous smile.

"I can't believe you think a stupid board game could do something like that, Al. I thought you were a man of science." he mocked him. Alfred took few light torches from his backpack and shoved them at Ivan’s chest effectively pushing the other away. He chuckled and started sticking the torches into the ground where Alfred told him to.   
“I'm planning to talk to them a little. You see, I have this with me.” 

He took a small device out. It kind of looked like a remote with a small screen on it and a mic.”It’s an EVP recorder. If any ghost wants to talk to us, this thing will record it.” 

Gilbert approached them looking curiously at the recorder. 

“That’s cool. Do you have more tech on you for your hunt?” he asked. 

“Nah, just this. I didn’t want to bust my wallet for just one video, you know? It was already expensive enough by itself.”

Ivan looked closely at the device. 

“Like what, forty bucks?” he asked sceptically. 

“Fuck off, Braginski”

“Oh come on, it seriously looks like someone took a tv remote and stuck a little ball mic on it and said ‘Bam! Now you can hear a ghosty ghosts whisper into your ear!’”

Alfred looked at him like he was considering strangling the life out of him. Ivan smiled at him innocently and then started to wander around the field. The whole place felt kind of weird to him. The forest all slippery moss and wet air clinging to his clothes and hair and even if they still were in the middle of the woods the air here was uncomfortably dry for Ivan. It carried a sharp coldness making Ivan’s body shake a little bit. The smell made him think of and old graveyard.

The moonlight bathed the place in a blueish light turning everything pale grey. The hair of two brothers talking to each other a few meters away from Ivan looked almost white in the light in the contrast of their dark skin and Gilbert looked like he actually glowed a bit. The image of the three of them was not really that different from the ghost standing beside them and it made Ivan a bit anxious. He kept a bit closer to them while he was exploring the meadow. 

The mist gathered at the centre of the clearing where the ground was a bit lower than the place where they were standing and because of it Ivan couldn’t really see any grass or small bushes. It reminded him of a milk gathering at the bottom of the bowl. 

“Hey Al, shouldn’t we start our little camp a bit closer to the center?” he asked loudly without turning around to look at his friend. His flashlight danced around turning the mist into a pale curtain in front of them. He didn’t really need the flashlight with him, but he couldn’t change his eyes while three people were running around him. He hated a bit how poor the human’s vision was, but after so many years of inhabiting the body he kind of got used to it.

Alfred hummed getting Ivan’s attention back to him. 

“Probably, but you will catch me dead before I get down there willingly” he called back. Ivan felt the rise of the man’s anxiety and turned back to him. He saw Alfred clutching his flashlight and staring down at the center of the clearing. 

“Why? It looks pretty inviting!” 

It actually didn’t. The ghosts who accompanied them through their journey here got closer to the center. Ivan noticed all of them had clothes from different periods of time. He counted six of them minus the guy who couldn’t get away from his humans for long and kept getting closer and closer. It was almost like it was challenging Ivan and he had no idea what he should do about it because the ghosts weren’t really doing more than observing them from up close and trying to spook Alfred again. 

“It’s actually where the party was going on. They couldn’t put tables closer to the line of trees, because they made a big bonfire, but also the ground was a bit skew so they couldn’t put anything on the tables without it rolling down to the ground.” Alfred explained. The anxiety level rose again and Ivan could feel the sweet smell of it over the cold and wet stench of the forest. 

“Wait, they actually tried to drag the tables and shit the same way we came in here?” he asked with a surprise coloring his voice. “We’ve barely managed to go through all of it without breaking our necks in the process and you are telling me they’ve got the tables and all the party shit with them here?” 

Alfred snorted an ugly laugh and shook his head. 

“Of course not. In 2001 the road wasn't closed. They’ve driven a car here.” Alfred pointed in the general direction of where they have come from and yeah, Ivan could see the vague shape of the road over there, claimed back by the forest.   
He hummed quietly. Alfred looked at him. 

“What?” he asked. 

“Nothing, I’m just curious. You said when the search team have got here they found all their shit in here? Bags, food, drinks, tables?” 

“Yeah. Everything was soaked even if it didn’t rain the day before.” 

“The cars were here too?”

“Yup. They were actually blocking the road around twenty meters away from the entrance to the meadow. The search team had troubles with getting around. They had to call the tow trucks first so they could get here and check the whole place. Why you ask?” 

Ivan shrugged. 

“Just curious. I’m just wondering what would happen to you to leave your car here. You are pretty attached to your truck.”

“It was a gift from our pops” Matt said from behind them. “He gave it to us when we were going to college so we wouldn’t waste money on plane tickets during holidays. I’m pretty sure it will kill us.”

“It’s a deathtrap but I love it with my whole heart” Alfred agreed with a smile. It was a common fight between the two of them. Matt couldn’t really understand why Alfred kept driving the old truck and to be honest Ivan backed him up on it. The car was pretty old, probably older than Alfred, the red paint was being eaten by rust and Ivan had to suffer from constant text messages from Alfred during Christmas when the engine refused to start, because it was way too cold up north where his hometown was.

“How are you afraid of ghosts and not your car is… such a wild idea to me” Gilbert joined them.

“Hey, it brought your ass here, it can also leave it if you keep talking shit about my car” Alfred pointed his finger at Gilbert who raised his hands in defence. 

“Cool beans and all buddy, I’m just joking” he said nervously and Matt laughed at him. 

“Stand your ground you idiot” he mocked Gilbert and the banter between the two brothers started again. Ivan tuned it out because of their friendly ghost who was constantly looking at the crowd gathering in the middle of the clearing. The number of them rose from six to ten but Ivan still couldn’t see any ghosts wearing something that was made after ‘60s. It made him wonder. 

What has happened to the kids? 

He noticed the ghost waving at him from behind Gilbert. He looked at it and suddenly it was right in front of him. From up close Ivan could see its skull and small crack visible on the side of it. It looked like someone pulled a translucent bag over a skeleton. He could see the eyes even if they really had no color for him but he could also see the dark and deep holes of eye sockets from behind them. The mouth moved carefully shaping the word and Ivan still couldn’t really hear any sounds but the static, but he recognized the shape of the word it tried to say. 

Eaten


End file.
